These Were the Voyages
by H Max Marius
Summary: Okay, so I felt cheated that I never got to hear Johnathan Archer's speach... then I thought about it a bit.


**A/N:** Okay, I've taken a moment to clean up a few rough patches. An explanation of my thoughts. On reflection, with the placement of the voice-over segment at the end of the episode, it became obvious that the classic voice-over in some way, shape or form is a key part of Archer's speach. Here is my take.

**These Were the Voyages**

The arena had seen much in its lifetime. On its site had once stood the famous Candlestick Park. The name and its history a mere curiosity in this era when all sports are now local again. In the mid twenty-two hundreds, the second revival of the Olympic movement had lead to the construction of a new venue on the old grounds.

And then, once more, it had lain silent and dormant. Occasionally, entertainers would seek to fill the facility with sound, but its size seemed to doom it to obscurity. Movements were afoot to raze the structure and have it turned into a park when various ambassadors approached the city about refurbishing the facility for the conference.

Meeting rooms were constructed across the bowl of the arena, their roof forming the floor of a grand meeting hall. New technologies; force fields against the weather, structural augmentation against the regular temblors of the area and gravitational modification equipment, for the comfort of the participants, were incorporated into the structure so that the open nature of the facility was not eliminated. Many of these devices were gifts from the participating worlds.

For three years many voices had clamored to be heard in these spaces. Emphatic, defensive, loud shouts and whispers. One voice, yet unheard in the structure, seemed to drive the many voices together. Each spoke of him, sometimes in awe, occasionally with disgust, but always with respect. Without him, this conference would not have happened, and yet he was not here, still out there on his shining steed.

The Earth Captain.

Johnathan Archer.

Word had been sent. An agreement had been reached. Only with that agreement in hand would Starfleet agree to recall him and his gallant crew home.

A blue skinned Andorian, his antenna twitching with the emotion of the day stood on the podium. Honoring the world that hosted the conference by quoting the great human poem of exploration before adding his own interpretation as an introduction.

"And so, home they came, to the shining green hills of the planet that gave all but one of them birth."

Tired. Tired as if the weight of a hundred worlds rested on his shoulders, he stood at the top of the ramp. Noise now filled the great arena. Slowly it grew until it was a noise as unto the golden age of sports. Ushers looked about, wondering why anyone had bothered to have them bring the chairs into the room. Applause and cries of welcome echoed off the structure, warming the cold tones of concrete, stone and metal.

Staring out upon the ovation, resplendent in his formal uniform, the weight seemed to drop away. Squaring his shoulders, Captain Johnathan Archer marched proudly down the ramp to the podium. The assembled throng growing louder with his every step.

He stopped. Caressing the clear glass for a moment he then stepped to one side and rested his hand on the frame. As he cleared his throat, automatic microphones tracking his position picked up the slight sound and transmitted it throughout the building.

Silence fell across the room, radiating in waves outward from the speakers. History had been made in this building and now that history was about to meet its first interpreter. The house lights were dimmed and the skyshields were opaqued, focus spots illuminated the Captain as he spoke.

"Space!" The word echoed grandly off the far wall. "The final frontier!"

Archer took a deep breath as the echoes of his words came back to him in the voices of those crewmembers who had not survived the mission.

"These were the voyages of the Earth Starship ENTERPRISE."

His eyes came up and met those of the Vulcan Ambassador, sitting impassively at the table below the podium.

"Her mission. To seek out new life and new civilizations," he chuckled lightly. "And here you all sit. In the ten years since my crew and I first set out, Earth Starships have contacted nearly thirty different species. Just before stepping through that archway, I was told eighteen of those are present here now!"

He waved his hand to encompass the signing table. "Andoria! Tellar! Vulcan! And Earth! Today we sign a pact, not to form an alliance against outside threats, but to EXPLORE!"

Raucous applause roared from the assembled crowd.

Waving his hands for silence he stepped behind the podium.

"This agreement makes us brothers among the stars. Today we form a federation to discover and celebrate the Vulcan concept of IDIC.

"Infinite Diversity! Infinite Combinations!"

Archer took a deep breath and stepped in front of the podium.

"Today! Today we sign the papers to create this alliance, but tomorrow our new mission begins."

The Captain raised his arms to the stars that were beginning to appear in the evening sky overhead.

"To boldly go where no man, where no ONE has gone before!"

Deafening applause rattled through the ancient arena as Captain Johnathan Archer descended to the table and signed his name to the first piece of paper.


End file.
